‘A horrific incident’: Tarrant County sheriff addresses recent death at jail facility

Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn on Thursday addressed an in-custody death at the county jail over the weekend, describing it as “horrific.”

Two people at the Tarrant County jail died in a span of four days. Both deaths resulted from medical emergencies, the sheriff’s office has said. Earlier this week, Alisa Simmons, the commissioner for Tarrant County Precinct 2, called on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the deaths.

“This has been a horrific incident involving many people at that time,” Waybourn said at a Thursday news conference.

On the morning of April 21, an incarcerated person died at a medical facility after getting into a fight with detention officers during a “routine” cell check, the Tarrant County sheriff’s office said Sunday. The man has been identified as Anthony Johnson Jr., 31, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner’s website.

During the fight, officers used oleoresin capsicum spray, or pepper spray, to bring Johnson “under control,” according to the sheriff’s office. He “became unresponsive” while jail medial staff was examining him after the fight and was pronounced dead shortly after 10 a.m., authorities have said.

Johnson had been at the Tarrant County jail since Saturday. The previous day, he was arrested by Saginaw officers and accused of “wielding a knife at a driver” while standing in the roadway, according to the sheriff’s office.

His family, who spoke to KXAS-TV (NBC5), said Johnson served in the U.S. Marine Corps. They described him as a “soft soul,” the news outlet reported. His family also said he had a mental health illness.

At Thursday’s conference, Waybourn said he had communicated with Johnson’s family.

“Very understandably, they’re very distraught and grieving,” Waybourn said. “They had lots of questions, and a lot of them we can’t answer yet, but we’re trying.”

Waybourn said Johnson’s family described how he had “a long history of mental health,” and added that he thinks more needs to be done to address mental health in the criminal justice system.

Waybourn said the Texas Rangers are leading the criminal investigation into the death, and the sheriff’s office is conducting an internal affairs investigation.

“While we don’t know everything right now, please be patient and allow the process to unfold and allow the truth to come out, and whatever that truth is, it is,” Waybourn said. “If people need to be criminally responsible, they will. If they need to be administratively responsible, they will.”

Waybourn did not address the April 18 death of Roderick Johnson, 42, whom authorities say was found unresponsive in his cell at about 5:35 a.m., and did not field any questions from reporters after the news conference. Roderick Johnson was facing one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, court records showed.

The cause and manner of each death is listed as “pending” on the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s website.

Since 2017, 32 deaths at the Tarrant County jail were classified as “natural/medical,” and 11 were listed as “COVID,” according to the sheriff’s office. Additionally, six were listed as suicides, one as a homicide, three as “fentanyl-related OD,” three as “accidental” and six are “pending,” according to the Tarrant County sheriff’s office.

The sheriff’s office categorized one of the deaths as “gunshot wounds after shootout with U.S. Marshals.”